Bahrain winter testing ended with a best time for Max Verstappen and the evolved version of the Red Bull RB18. The Dutchman took over from Sergio Pérez midway through the day, after the Mexican set the fastest time of the morning.
The Milton Keynes team ended their six days of testing with a bang, as we could see in the team garages when Verstappen set his time of 1’31.720 on the fastest C5 tyres.
As a reminder, only C1, C2 and C3 tires will be used next weekend for the Bahrain Grand Prix, on the Sakhir international circuit. The Dutchman beat the other impressive single-seater of these six days, the Ferrari F1-75.
Indeed, it is Charles Leclerc who ends the week in second place, with just over 50 laps contested, like Verstappen. Fernando Alonso brought the Alpine A522 back to third place almost a second off the fastest lap. The Spaniard completed more than 120 laps throughout the day.
George Russell had taken over from Lewis Hamilton at the wheel of the Mercedes W13 and his afternoon looked tough when it came to performance. He eventually took fourth place with over 70 laps on the clock, a solid number in half a day.
Valtteri Bottas completed 68 laps in the afternoon after replacing Guanyu Zhou, and he set the fifth fastest time just before encountering a mechanical problem 40 minutes from the end of the session.
Yuki Tsunoda, who was filming this afternoon, follows ahead of Pérez and his morning time. Mick Schumacher is eighth with a time seven tenths of his 2021 qualifying time. This is encouraging for the Haas F1 driver, who was able to do 57 laps until 5 p.m. and still has two hours of driving alone on the track.
Lando Norris finally completed 90 laps, a finally productive day for McLaren with modified brakes. Sebastian Vettel follows with over 80 laps completed for Aston Martin F1.
Zhou and Gasly follow ahead of Sainz and Alex Albon, who drove early in the afternoon before handing over to Nicholas Latifi. The Canadian arrives just after his team-mate and the two drivers have offered more than 140 laps to the FW44. Stroll, Hamilton and Magnussen, who were driving this morning, complete the classification.
Find the photos of the 3rd day by consulting our gallery here. The gallery will continue to be updated regularly until late tonight.
| Pos. | Pilot | Car | Time | Tours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull RBP RB18 | 1:31.720 | 53 |
| 02 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari F1-75 | 1:32.415 | 51 |
| 03 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine Renault A522 | 1:32.698 | 122 |
| 04 | George Russell | Mercedes W13 | 1:32.759 | 71 |
| 05 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 | 1:32.985 | 68 |
| 06 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri RBP AT03 | 1:33.002 | 57 |
| 07 | sergio perez | Red Bull RBP RB18 | 1:33.105 | 43 |
| 08 | Mick Schumacher | Haas Ferrari VF-22 | 1:33.151 | 57 |
| 09 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes MCL36 | 1:33.191 | 90 |
| 10 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 | 1:33.821 | 81 |
| 11 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 | 1:33.959 | 82 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri RBP AT03 | 1:34.865 | 91 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari F1-75 | 1:34.905 | 68 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams Mercedes FW44 | 1:35.171 | 18 |
| 15 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes FW44 | 1:35.634 | 124 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 | 1:36.029 | 53 |
| 17 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes W13 | 1:36.217 | 78 |
| 18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari VF-22 | 1:38.616 | 38 |